Marlins right fielder Mike Stanton knows all about Phillies and how they have perhaps the best starting rotation in baseball. But Stanton says the rest of the league shouldn’t forget about the Florida Marlins.

“We’re gonna be that Cinderalla team,” he said today during the Marlins’ annual media luncheon.

“People really overlook us and that’s not just me saying it. That’s the fact.”

The other “fact” Stanton shared? He doesn’t believe in the so-called sophmore jinx. He noted how he went through two prolonged slumps last year, which he said will help him in 2011.

He hit 22 homers in 100 games last year. So, he knows there’ll be plenty of guesswork in the baseball world on how many homers he may hit in 2011 over his first full season.

“It’s gonna be interesting,” he said. “I’ll be more curious to see how good we’re going to be, actually.”

Last year, Stanton was shy and soft-spoken after his June call-up. Today, he seemed much more at ease and even said all the right things, as you can tell by his last quote.

He enjoyed relative anonymity at home this winter in Los Angeles, where he said few if any people recognized him in public.

“Definitely not in California,” he said. “They have the (movie) stars and actors and all of that. They don’t care about me at all.”

After working out in the winter at UCLA, Stanton looked as dominating as ever. He said he weighs about 250 pounds after putting on about eight pounds since October.

He’s penciled in to bat fourth, where Jorge Cantu and Dan Uggla hit last year.

“I don’t think its gonna be much of an adjustment at all,” said Stanton, who hit sixth, seventh and eighth last year.

MVP for Hanley Ramirez?
Owner Jeffrey Loria said he spoke with All Satr shortstop Hanley Ramirez about two months ago.

“He is as excited as ever (about 2011),” Loria said.

“I said to him, ‘Hanley, you won a batting championship, you won a rookie of the year (award). It’s time to be what they call the MVP. You know what that is, Hanley?’

“He said, ‘yeah, I got the picture.’ I’m not saying he’s gonna be the MVP but Hanley has the ability to do whatever Hanley wants.”

Loria said he agrees with manager Edwin Rodriguez, who thinks it’s time for Ramirez to become a clubhouse leader.

“That’s also a matter of maturity as you go along in your professional career,” Loria said. “You realize who you are and identify the problems yourself and do something abou it. Hanley is a terrifically-bright young man. Maturing take a little while.”

Loria said he saw lots of maturity from Ramirez over the last four months of the season. The turning poiint, Loria said, came in May when Ramirez had an ugly public spat with then-manager Fredi Gonzalez, who pulled Ramirez from a game after dogging it on a play.

“After that minor problem that we had, I saw a different guy and I think he’s ready to play big time,” Loria said.

It wasn’t a “minor problem” at all, but at least Loria predicts that Ramirez will be a better guy in 2011.

Ramirez still had a pretty darn good year in 2010. He hit an even .300 with 21 homers and 76 RBI and started the All Star game.

“For us, hitting .300, knocking in 20-plus home runs, that’s a successful year for most players,” Loria said. “But I think by his own standards it wasn’t good enough for him and I think he knows that.”

Are Marlins a playoff team?
Loria thinks they are. He didn’t want to make any bold predictions but he did say this:

“I think we can win high 80s or 90 games if we stay healthy.”

“We have a very good team and I think we can do extremely well this year and we will do extremely well -assuming we’re healthy. That’s always the caveat.”

“I think it is (a playoff team) I thik it has the ablity to do it. Now it’s up to them… We put the thing together in a way the pieces seems to work very well – new bullpen, better defense, the young players..

“They’re on par with any other club, I’ll match my guys up with anybody.”

“We’re gonna try and get there. We have the horses to do it but they’ve got to go out and do it. They have to believe in themselves, they have to believe in their manager and they have to stay healthy. I keep repeating the same thing because September always seems to be the month where guys are not in the lineup and you want them in the lineup.”

Higher payroll?
Loria said the Marlins will probably get some additional players after the year as they prepare to open their new ballpark in downtown Maimi in April 2012.

“We have wait to the end of this year to see where we are with payroll but my expectation is the new ballpark will generate the need for some additional players. I’ve never disappointed anybody. When we needed players we went out and got them.” …

Ozzie Martinez at second?
Sounds like shortstop Ozzie Martinez might be an option at second base this spring — if Omar Infante winds up at third base.

Infante told me the Marlins plan to play him at both second base and third base this spring. He’s penciled in as the second base, where he’s most comfortable. But the Marlins want slick-fielding prospect Matt Dominguez to win the third base job.

Dominguez needs to hit or he’ll start the seasoini at Class AAA New Orleans.

Emilio Bonifacio is an option to play second, too. But Martinez’s name was volunteered today during a discussion about the infield.

“It’s good to have multiple players on your team that can do multiple things,” baseball operations president Larry Beinfest said.

“I think Ozzie Martinez can also play. We haven’t seen him necessarily at third and second, but I don’t think there’s any doubt that he can play over there as well. It just gives us some flexibility.”

Beinfest said Martinez is “a very good shortstop. He gets a little overlooked and probably shouldn’t…He’s an interesting player for us. He has been very under-the-radar – we haven’t done a good job pumping him.”

Meanwhile, FOX Sports reports the Marlins have interest in Michael Young, but they probably won’t get him.